Debate topic: Every year, there are many contenders for world series champions. This year these contenders include teams like the white sox, indians, yankees and mets among others. Debate for who you think will be the world series champion this year.

Debate for your side and argue against your opponents.
Good luck

Last edited by giants! on Mon Apr 24, 2006 6:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.

When the dust settles in October this year, the Boston Red Sox will be World Series Champions. For the first time since 1995 they will also be the American League East Champions.

Let's start with the offense. Leading off for the Sox is Coco Crisp. He is a younger, and faster Johnny Damon for about 1/3 of the price. Over the last two years their power numbers were very close, as well as OBP. Only difference is Damon is in his 30's and declining, while Crisp is 26 and still improving. Through the first few games, Crisp also showed he's not afraid to steal bases, something Damon never really tried to do in Boston.

Next we have Mark Loretta who is a one year removed All-Star. He's a career .300 hitter. He doesn't need to put up good power numbers to be succesful, all he has to do is get on base because of the next two guys.

David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are the best duo in any lineup in baseball. Better than ARod and Sheffield, better than Pujols and Edmonds, better than Delgado and Wright. Both guys will put up 40+ HR and 130+ RBI. The RBI numbers could even rise with a real #2 hitter in front of them now.

I won't go through the whole lineup, but we can obviously see one of the best hitting lineups in baseball, second only to the Yankees. Some names we haven't even mentioned yet are Nixon, a guy who can put up 25 HR when healthy, and Varitek, a 20 HR guy in about 450 AB.

Next we'll take a look at the defense. Last year the Sox scored plenty of runs. The problem was they gave up quite a bit as well. Renteria led the majors with 30 errors, and Bellhorn and Millar won't be considered gold glove candidates anytime soon. This year Mike Lowell comes to 3B with a gold glove, Alex Gonzalez is widely regarded as one of the best fielding SS, and Youkilis has shown he can field 1B, along with J.T. Snow another gold glove winner for late inning defense.

The Red Sox have a much improved pitching staff as well. A healthy Curt Schilling has returned to his 2004 form where he won 21 games after an injury ridden 2005. Josh Beckett brings a fiery presence to the mound. He has had blister problems before, but still managed to put up good numbers in those seasons. He's shown he can handle the Boston atmosphere as well. Another gaping hole from last year has been filled with Jon Papelbon. He's perfect in save situations so far and still hasn't given up a run. In a few appearences last year he was also lights out, showing he can handle the majors.

Last year the Sox won the wild card without a true ace or closer. This year they have 2 aces, a closer, and a great fieldeing team. The Yankees have a great offense, but lack the great pitching the Sox have shown so far, which is why I pick them to win the AL East.

Another big factor is that the Sox have Playoff and World Series experience on their team. Schilling, Beckett, and Manny are all former WS MVP's. Just a side note: Beckett's WS MVP came in a victory against the Yankees.

This time around the Sox don't have a "curse" against them. They don't have the pressure of 86 years on them. They do have a better team in 2 of 3 categories than the team that tied the Yankees for the AL East last year, and no slouch in the third though.

The Mets have put together a good team this year, there's no arguing that. Even though the NL is regarded as the weaker league, the Mets might not even make the playoffs.

The Braves have started off slow, but they're starting to come around. Their pitching was dreadful the first week and a half, but Smoltz and Hudson both threw CG in their last starts. (Hudson's was against the Mets ) Andruw Jones hasn't slowed down a bit from last year. Chipper Jones has been fielding ground balls painlessly and Renteria should be back in a few days. Francouer is starting to come around too now, so I think the Braves will certainly be back to form in a few weeks. I don't see a reason why they shouldn't win another division.

So that leaves open the wild card. Every team in the NL Central except for the Pirates could contend for the wild card this year. Granted, one of them will win the division, which will likely be the Cardinals, this leaves the Cubs, Astros, Reds, and Brewers. With Derek Lee going down the Cubs may be out of it already, but the Reds and Brewers sure seem to be much improved. The Astros have lost a great pitcher from their World Series run, but Oswalt and Pettitte are still two great guys to have. Their lineup includes Berkman, Ensberg, Taveras, and P. Wilson. THey have the pitching and offense to make another run, at the Mets expense.

Now specifically focusing on the Mets. Who is their third starter? Bannister? A guy who never pitched in the majors before this season. He's looked strong so far, but he can't keep up this pace. Come playoff time it's tought to call on a rookie to be that important 3rd starter. Glavine and Pedro are two consistent guys, but I don't see much after that.

The Mets have a good lineup, but I see a lot of question marks. Beltran struggled pretty badly last year, and has an injury already. Cliff Floyd had a very good year last year, but I don't see him doing that again. Xavier Nady has started off hot but can you count on that all season? Kaz Matsui returning to the lineup is not a good thing either.

I see the Mets having quite a few issues this year, and some stiff competition for the division and wild card.

As solid as their team is, they also have 3 other great pitching prospects on top of Papelbon. Should something go wrong and at the trading deadline they need to make a move, they have the means to do so. Recently there's been rumors floating around about Dontrelle Willis. If the Sox could add him to the rotation just for prospects then their chances for this year and future years rise greatly. THe rumor is about trading Jon Lester, a 22 year old for him. Dontrelle himself is only 24 so it's not even sacrificing the future, because Willis is the future. He's already proven himself, unlike Lester, and he's another guy with WS experience.

There's still the issue with Clemens too. He may not come back 'til June or July. Latest I've heard is he'd like to be on a team to make a run in the playoffs with. The Sox will be a playoff contending team, and if he wants to join along for the ride he'd greatly increase the Sox's chances too. He can help them out down the stretch, and maybe allow them to keep some of their other arms fresh for the postseason.

I almost forgot about David Wells too. He's known as a big game pitcher. If he's healthy by the postseason, which shouldn't be too difficult, he's another arm for them in the playoffs.

The Mets 2nd starter is 40 years old who's been less than consistent since joining the Mets. Bannister is a big if right now. Over a long season the chances of him remaining as a decent starter are questionable in my mind. Traschel has only been over .500 once since joining the Mets and I think there's as good if not better a chance of a high 4 era than a high 3 or low 4. Then there's Zambrano who is lucky to have a job.

That's a shaky 2-5 in my mind. Not to mention the concerns about Pedro's durability. He already had a start delayed because of his toe and he has been quite fragile in the past.